Friday, August 8, 2008

White launched into Gnomergan via the "Beam me up, Scooty" transporter in Booty Bay. Othar & Uglyhawg were lost from the beginning because they had never gone in that way before and nothing looked familier. I think that feeling was widespread throughoout the group because our intrepid Tank, Melain, ably assisted by Nymea, killed every Trogg within sight or hearing, and we doubled back through some rooms once or twice. Although challanged geographicaly, we prevailed over all we met, with the exception of once being attacked from two directions at once by multible large groups of Dark Iron Dwarves and Mad Gnomes mounted on mechanical birds. I thought that we killed all those pesky Mobile Alert Robots ( Nymea was always rushing to quell them whenever they appeared) , but we might have missed one this time!When at last we lined up against that diabolical genius Thermaplugg , we were ready to take on anything those Gnasty Gnomes could dish out - as Melain and Nymea, our twin BE Paladins, took on Thermaplugg and his minons (with a little help and a lot of squealing from Uglyhawg), Jaheal and Othar poured on the ranged healing and arrows respectively while the key role was played by our fleet-footed Mage, Fikkle, who dashed around in circles, hitting the buttons which kept Thermaplugg's Robot Bombs at bay (not one went off - thanks to Fikkle's efforts !).Afther this triumph and a lot of wandering around trying to find a Dark Iron Dwarf Lord (never found him - not even sure he's there), we also accomplished an escort quest and re-sealed the tunnels from invading Troggs - helped by a friendly ( and very cute) Gnomish Demolition Expert. -- FIRE IN THE HOLE !! -- After all this excitement, Othar discovered that he had a grime-encrusted ring which started another quest (but only if you could get to the Clean Room to use the Sparklematic 5200). The only problem was that when he looked around to suggest this, everyone was gone! (even though their dots still appeared to be inside) So Othar & Uglyhawg ended the evening just as they had begun it - lost in Gnomeregan !

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

The changes Ess mentioned as to the Ranks has been placed in effect.The new ranks are:

Infectious PoxActive PoxVisiting PoxBag O PoxInactive Pox(anyone who hasn't logged in in over a month)

Please please let someone from infectious pox know if you are in thewrong rank or location. Starting today I will probably watch ourgoogle groups page for about a week then I will go absent again andwon't really pay attention.

N.B. This is the roster as of 10:35 Eastern on 6/6/08. This is not meant to replace the spreadsheet, just to make it easier for others (me, mostly) to see who the groups are.

For the sake of simplicity, I've left out the visiting poxers (although we love you!), but I'm sure I've missed somebody. It's my fault, and it's not a sign that you're any less important than anybody else. You are a beautiful and unique snowflake. :-D

For those of you Poxers with blog access, please feel free to update this as needed. For those of you without, umm...pester Abuto, I think. I think she's the one who knows how to do all this fun and groovy collaborative stuff.

3. We are currently leveling together by instancing, with necessary class quests done as ...uh... necessary.

4. Our current instance is Scarlet Monastery. We've destroyed the Graveyard and Library and have set our sights on the Armory and Razorfen Downs.

5. Our experience as a team has been a great time (as far as my perspective is). We have gelled into a formidable force and have been able to take down instances and mobs that are above our level. In fact, we were able to take down a mob that was a skull to us and were able to get half of the Library done at 29.

Friday, April 11, 2008

The team playtimes don't overlap much, so some of us only cross paths in gchat when we're dropping in for AH checks and stuff like that. I loves me my purples peeps, of course, but I'd like to hang out with and get to know some of the other teams, too! Shall we have a guild get together in game?

If so, any ideas of fun stuff we could do?

One possibility is the Stranglethorn Fishing Extravaganza. We all do a bit of fishing when our teams aren't on, it seems, so this would be a nice chance to pick up some fishing goodies, enjoy some guild chat, and impress the other Anvilmar players with our lures and jigs. We'll have large aggro radii in that zone right now, so it may be worth partnering up and sharing pools just in case the crocs are hungry. :)

Okay, we didn't really go anywhere, but this blog has seemed kinda dead lately, everyone just writes their own stuff on their own blogs.

Anyway, I just felt like announcing that we totally pwned Shadowfang Keep last night. And I'm not one who usually uses the word (if you can call it a word) "pwn," but there's really no other way to describe it, at least not without using some degree of profanity.

I'll attribute it to two main things. Well three. That extra one is simply that we're just that awesome.

The other two things that helped were me finally getting Consecration (enabled us to fly through without marking and planning each pull beforehand), and that we're geared and leveled from WC. We all started the night at lvl 21, which is at the top end of the suggested level range for SFK. But... the fact that we flew through there three times in three hours, I still think is pretty cool.

So what have all the other groups been up to? Has yellow had any more comic-worthy outings? I know there are newer groups being formed, have any of them met yet? Had some RFC action? It's so cool that the guild is catching on, but we've had so many new people join I feel like I don't know what's going on with anyone anymore, it's so much to keep up with.

Anyways, hope everyone else is having lots of success, I just wanted to share a little about all the fun we had last night.

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

I need to read comments over here more often. I usually just glance at it through a reader ;p.

So what happened to my last post here was I meant to post on my blog... I was on my dashboard and clicked on new post... wrote a long post up and clicked view post and woah! It was on the wrong one :P.

Still though.. it was an excellent post and I'm glad I wrote such an awesome piece and all the little, little, very little, not as big as me people who helped get me here I have to thank :p.

(Because at heart we are NOT warriors but fuzzy lil kittens....and because secretly we all love pink....)

Following the groundbreaking announcement from WoWInsider, Pox Arcanum has searched its soul and decided that it too is abandoning the rough and tumble aspect of World of Warcraft. We have a softer gentler side and we want to express it. Pox Arcanum will soon be renamed Putting On the Kitty.

Hello puddy-tats! Just a couple gentle reminders:

1. Please bring your own milk and friskies to group instances. Can't depend on your mage to conjure them.

2. All hunter pets need to wear the following outfit (team spirit ftk! FtK? For the Kitty!!)

3. Tanks (otherwise known as "cute white kittens with claws"), we'd really like to see you going after the following armor set:

4. Fur balls should be used sparingly. Yes they are effective but too many are just gross.

5. Remember to let your main tank hiss. Everyone can't hiss and arch their backs...this pulls way to much aggro.

6. Try to purr often at your healer, they work hard.

7. Yes, we know that the Barrens is one big sun patch. But post one kitty as guard while the rest of you cat nap. Don't want to be taken unawares.

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Pox Arcanum is a guild of bloggers (and friends) coming together with a slightly different approach to the game. We're composed of static teams of players that plan to progress through all the game content together.

=The Basics=

- When you join Pox Arcanum, your toon will become part of a team.

- Each team will be composed of 3-5 members.

- By joining a team, you're committing to playing with your team at least once a week. (If the whole team wishes to meet more often, that's great.)

- If your team has not fully formed yet, go ahead and decide what class you'd like to play, add yourself to the spreadsheet, and level up your toon to 10. Our experience so far has been that once a couple people in the group decide what class they want to play, the folks joining later will fill out the remaining roles appropriately. (If you want to try a very specific concept, such as all one class, all one race, etc, it is best to get a commitment from other potential team members before putting time into the toon.)

- As soon as you've reached 12, please stop questing and leveling and wait for the rest of your team to level to 12.

- Once everyone on your team is ready to go... Go! Play and enjoy, and if you have a blog, please post about your adventures. We also set you up with access to the common blog if you'd like to share things there.

=Money=

We made a decision early on to be self-sufficient as a guild. This means that any money that goes toward your Poxer or Pox Arcanum should be made by your Poxer. In other words, no farmer alts, server-transferred sugardaddies, or the like. If you're going to farm, do so with your Poxer. If you choose to have a bank alt, understand that they should be in no way leveling or gaining resources for your Pox toons.

Also, keep in mind that your fellow Poxers are there to help you, so if you find yourself in need of something, don't hesitate to ask. Poxers should never sell items or services to other members of the guild.

=Alts=

As mentioned above, no farmer alts are allowed. If you adore the Anvilmar server and wish to create non-Pox toons on it, that's fine, but please do not transfer any funds or materials (for crafting professions or anything else) from non-Poxers to your Poxer toons. If you feel you need a bank alt, please let Trifendolden know in game and he'll add it to the guild.

If you wish to have more than one leveling toon in the guild, you can petition** to do so, but the new toon must be part of an active team (not leveling individually).

**And by petition, we mean let us know your specific plans for the new toon. Regular guilds allow members to add as many alts as they'd like and do with them whatever they'd like, but we're more focused here. People associated with Pox Arcanum typically only have one actively leveling toon that is part of the guild.

If a new team is forming, and you feel you have time to play regularly with a second group, you can ask to have another alt added to the guild. Such alts will be permitted for folks who have shown to be a reliable member of a stable, existing team. Sometimes teams fall apart due to scheduling circumstances and that can't be helped, but we don't want anyone to be distracted from their primary Poxer team efforts. After all, we're all alt addicts at heart, right? :)

=Loot=

Rolling for loot is simplified quite a bit by the fact that we're not all trying to outfit alts. Also, don't you want your tank to have that really sweet hat that dropped if it will help them tank better?

Most teams go with this set-up (though perhaps with some variation):

Pass (if you don't want to carry it) or Greed for any bind-on-equip (BoE) items.Need for BoE's that will be an upgrade for you.Pass and discuss for bind-on-pickup (BoP) items.

The greens that get greeded very often get deposited right into the guild bank after a run, so greed rolling those is mostly to make sure nobody's inventory is overflowing. So far, most teams have one enchanter, too, that can disenchant BoP items that nobody needs. Very likely, that same person will be doing all the enchants for the team, too, so we don't tend to bother with shard rolls.

=Playing Solo, Yay or Nay?=

With few exceptions, the answer is Nay, you should not be out in Azeroth without your group. The point of Pox Arcanum is static group play, so you should question anything you're doing outside of your group, and consider carefully whether you should be doing it.

If you are on your main Pox toon, working on your gathering profession (without gaining any experience, as described above), fishing, or traveling to your group's next destination if it has been determined that you should do this, then this is well in keeping with the spirit of the Pox. Anything else is questionable... feel free to ask questions if you're unsure.

=====

FAQ.

1. I'm still waiting for my team to form. What should I do?

Go fishing! This is the way that most of us were biding our time until our teammates were ready. It's a great way to make money, though be careful not the flood the markets you're exploiting.

You can also level your professions and do any gathering that won't cause you to level. Be mindful of XP from exploration, try to avoid nodes with mobs around them, and if you're a skinner, be sure the boars that you're killing are gray and not green.

Feel free to recruit a bit to fill out your team, too. Mention it in your blog or to your friends on your main server.

2. The rest of my team isn't on, but I REALLY want to play. Can I pleeeeease level without them?

No! If you want to hang out on Anvilmar, grab your fishing pole and go to Ratchet, go gathering, or check the AH for some nice items to flip.

We know it's all shiny and new and you're anxious to play, but once folks start leveling outside of their teams, Pox Arcanum becomes an ordinary guild. We don't want that, do we? :)

3. We're a team of 5 and only 4 of us are here. Can we go ahead and run without out our 5th person?

This is up to the team. Some teams have decided to play only if all five are present, so if one person can't make it, the run is canceled. Others will go ahead and run without the missing person, but all this should be agreed upon before the team starts playing together. Some people have specifically joined this project to play and level exclusively with a static team, so they'll be very sad to be left behind.

4. We're a team of 5 and only 4 of us are here. Can we ask another available Poxer to join us for the session?

Please don't. The other Poxer may be tempted and this could put them in an awkward position with the rest of their team. Again, mixing and matching with random folks would make us not much different than a regular guild. It will be better to run one man short than to ask for a replacement.

5. We are a partially formed team. We have 4 people and are waiting for a 5th to join. Can we go ahead and get started, and the 5th person can just catch up with us?

If your plan is to have a team of 5, then please wait for a 5th person to join. Otherwise, the new member of the team will have to spend extra time solo-leveling to catch up with you, the rest of the group will have to stop what they're doing to wait for the 5th person to catch up, and all this is frustrating for everyone. If you would prefer to proceed as a team of 4, you may go ahead and get started, but please don't plan on recruiting a 5th person.

6. We'll level much more efficiently if we solo. Can I play my Pox character solo?

Again, please don't. This defeats the purpose of Pox Arcanum. The goal here is not to level speedily through the game or create an uber-character outfitted with all the phattest gear. (That's what we do on our main realms with our main toons.) We're here to enjoy the game in a different way: playing through the content with an unchanging (and possibly experimental) team composition and progressing together. Any Pox Arcanum-associated toon should be part of a single, stable leveling group, and not be leveling independently outside their group.

7. It's an in-game holiday. Can I take my Pox toon out to do the holiday quests while my group isn't there?

This depends both on the holiday and on your team. Many of the holiday events involve quests that give you experience upon completion. Any of these should only be completed either with your team present, or, at the very least, with their blessing. Some holiday quests also just give you money. Please chat with your team about these holidays, and if everyone agrees, team members can complete these quests at their leisure. Again, we ask that bank alts not do any questing, leveling, or gain resources in any way, so they should not be participating in holiday events period.

8. I love the battlegrounds. Can I also take my Pox toon into the BGs to kill Alliance?If your whole Pox team wishes to take to the battlegrounds to kill the Alliance, then charrrge! For the Horde!!

If you want to take your Pox toon into the BGs when the rest of your team isn't on ... this is a bit of a gray area. In keeping with the original vision of Pox Arcanum, I would say no, first because BGs are essentially pick-up groups (and Pox Arcanum is the anti-pug, right?), and second because this would be playing and developing your character in the absence of the rest of your team. Technically, you would be doing this without gaining levels, however, if you didn't do any BG-specific quests for experience. So, we will leave this decision to the individual teams as to whether their members can participate in the battlegrounds when the rest of the team isn't on. Please read #9 before you queue for the BGs though... 9. Boy, you guys sure have a lot of rules. Why so restrictive?

The idea behind Pox Arcanum was really simple: level up a single toon, playing through the content exclusively with a static group of friends. This is the vision the founders had for Pox Arcanum, and we try to keep everything working within the spirit of this. Because many of the things players are accustomed to doing with their other toons naturally fall outside of this, we find ourselves telling people "no, please don't do that" a lot.

It's the restrictiveness, however, that's potentially going to offer you a very different experience than you'll have on a regular server with a regular guild. Your toons, working together from wee level 10's, will spend their first talent points together and help each other kill their first elites. You'll watch each teammate learn their class, see their skills grow stronger as they level, and together celebrate the benchmark levels where you'll all get your class-defining skills. You'll look back fondly at the time one of you fell into the lava in RFC or had a pet run astray and pull the entire room upon your party's heads. You'll get your mounts together, and maybe even some day walk through the Dark Portal together.Our best advice is to approach Pox Arcanum thinking about this group experience you can potentially have. Always consider your group before your individual toon. Set aside the desire to play right this very moment, and instead, look forward to what your entire group will do next time you meet and make plans. Forget any preconceived notions you have about the speed with which you should level, or the frequency with which you normally like to play a character. Someone remarked in a response to a Pox-related blog post that this kind of grouping experience is probably the closest thing to a pen and paper game that you can have in WoW. If you talk to old school D&D players, they'll tell you about campaigns that went on for years, their play groups only meeting once a week or once a month, at times. Their adventures still felt epic, however, moreso because they were experienced as a group that was, in essence, creating a history for itself. THAT is what we're going for here. :)10. Is it fun?

Heck yeah. Our roster lists our active members, with links to their blogs. We often post about our adventures if you'd like to see what we're up to.

====

(Sorry for the business post in the middle of all the fun stuff, but I wanted to get this down somewhere, all in one place. This was hammered out with the assistance of some of the other founding folk. Please let me know if you see any glaring errors up there, or if you think of other issues that should be clarified.)

Thursday, March 20, 2008

I am super sad to leave the Pox behind me, but I thought I'd share my experience in this experiment.

WoW is an amazingly diverse game, in terms of its offerings for both the dedicated and casual player. I played with the Green pox for a handful of hours each week, one day each week, and at the end of it, I could look back and point at milestones in the game, itself that were meaningful to me.

The game does a great job of allowing you to accomplish as much as you can, in whatever chunks of time you have to give. During the last two weeks of Pox running, I asked myself "If this were all I did in WoW, would I still pay $15 a month for it" and surprised myself with a resounding

"YES!"

Naturally, a great deal of the fun to be had in a game like WoW is the social aspect - and the Poxers are a great bunch of folks; but even that aside, any casual gamer should be able to enjoy themselves by playing just a few hours a week, even if they solo!

Learning new personalities, how to deal with them and get along with them, is always tricky for me; and Green Pox was no exception. Much of my difficulty can be squarely attributed to my own strange sense of humor and social awkwardness, but after being in a 'close knit' guild of a hundred or so people for the last few years, it was refreshing to be tickled with the problems of a 5 person community, and see each poxer come to life as they discovered their niches in our micro-pack.

It was exciting to see scheduling, forming agendas, formulating strategies to suite our play styles and the constant give and take of any team game boiled down to its bare essentials (or was that bear essentials?).

On the whole, I will remember my part of the Pox experiment with fondness as I continue my virtual life in WoW, and my only regret is that I don't have the time to continue conquering Azeroth with my new friends.

So, another analysis/commentary on another run is NOT on my list of things I want to read about. Harisan posted a nice rundown of what went on last night, so go read...go on...

Back? Good. I'm going to start writing a list and see where it goes...

1. Can a group of level 17 toons take on Wailing Caverns, finish it in 3 hours, have only one wipe, and kill all the bosses with the exception of the escort? You bet your sweet patootie! We all dinged 18 inside the instance, so technically, we weren't 17 for the whole thing. 8~P

2. Is it a joy and a thrill to run with people who may still be learning their character, but have a firm grasp of group dynamics and a sincere desire to do the best they can? Whoooeee BOY, it is!! We all had some noob mistakes, but the group either recovered nicely or it just wasn't an issue.

3. Has anyone else just noticed how beautiful WC is? I have never taken the time to look around before, and I was amazed at the beauty found just in the rock formations and colors.

4. Most people would agree that WC and Deadmines are equivalent semi-faction specific instances. So, why is WC soooooooo much better as far as design, quests, and layout? We took the traditional route of killing bosses, but could have just as easily made our way to the last bosses before the first one or the one to the left. Deadmines requires you to fight each and every boss to progress to the next one - with Cookie being the only optional one.

5. Turion, the Pally Tank that I run with has me lovin' some Pally tanking. Harisan has only solidified that in my mind; she's awesome!! She would regularly take on two mobs at a time, and those mobs were GLUED to her! Phfffft, no real good tanking tools for lower level Pallys? I beg to differ!

6. Verdan the Everliving hits like a truck! This was the only fight where Harisan's life was in danger. I actually used some cancel healing methods to keep her alive and preserve mana for the entire fight. Our DPS really stepped it up and smooshed him before I ran out of mana.

7. Bugged mobs wipe groups. We saw an ectoplasm dude get marked by Harisan and then drop through the floor. "Did you guys just see that??" We took the shortcut anyways, and the thing rounded up approximately half the instance and came back for us. I'm not sure how many mobs there were, but there were a crap load!

8. Daxe has some sort of script running that automatically wins rolls. Turion is convinced of it, and now the Purple Poxers are suspecting the same. Erm, huh? Nothing to see here...

Here's where I ended up last night after turning in the WC quests I'd completed. Just BARELY dinged 19. Woot! This means I can scour the Auction House for upgrades between now and then, and actually be able to equip them before the next run.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Friday, March 14, 2008

Yellow Pox tried out Wailing Caverns for the first time this past Thursday night. And because I promised, there is a comic (more on that later). But first....

I'd like to humbly thank my fellow Yellows for helping this noob out. I love the game but I haven't got all the details shmetails down yet. Demo kindly let me know that laying down a mute magic against raptors when she was trying to heal was not the most efficient use of mana on my part (/facepalm) And Lazz, in his gentle way, told me that maybe I'd like to hold off on the fireballs until after he'd gotten some aggro on the mob. oh...is that why they come running at me???

And second....oh gosh, we had the coolest fight and I'm not sure I can do it justice. But here goes....

We were on a path in WC. Killing a raptor here, laying a smack down on Druid of the Fang there. Easy peasy. And then as we rounded a curve, two raptors started running towards us. We fought them. A third came running up. What???? We battle it. Then a crocodile comes up the path at us. Um....how are we aggroing this crowd of WC pain? No clue. Lots of "what the f?" in party chat. There may have been one more raptor that snuck into the mix. But we battled hard. Fuller went down. Blackmyst went down. Lazz went down. But we didn't all die. And at the end, Demo was there to rez and we had a pile of dead raptors and crocodiles at our feet.

The post-battle picture:

The post-battle conversation:

And since, Daxe has led the way towards blog plugging: here's the next Yellow Pox comic.

Wow we certainly did get a response did we not? I thank all of those that went ahead and signed up and I promise that a fun time is to be had by all. I'm sitting at level 12 on purpose...to wait for the rest of the group. I might hit the lucky 13 mark just so I am RFC ready but otherwise I'll be culling mats for pots for the guild itself.

Also I got antsy last night and built a Rogue, Lubacca. Please add him to your friends as he is going to need an invite and he'll be my "I don't want to deal with my OTHER guild" toon.

Since he's an alt....can he just be leveled or do I have to be good and stay within shouting distance of the guild? LoL Questions! Questions! Questions!

Monday, March 10, 2008

So our recent signup attempt has been as scattered as a Alliance group scattered by a well placed Howl of Terror.(In terms of us responding back to the applicants...the signupsheet simplified things greatly for those applying). At least I think so. So here is an update:

So far our new blue and blacks are:Inciendo(not new but yeah).TazbutaneStaleshotTalonisScaryscience(level 15)UnrepentantSudaCzanthar

Now if you haven't gone to our spreadsheet and filled out your availability and class etc please do. Our signup sheet was mostly so that we could add you to the spreadsheet so you could update it. (Again I think).

Sorry about sounding so unorganized but due to our Cell-based structure there isn't a -lot- of coordination outside of the group(cell) you are in.

Blue and black are very loose at the moment. Once everyone's availabilities are in we'll group everyone according to time and availability and see where we stand. We may end up with two groups of four or one 5 and a three. If at all possible please try to be on this wednesday and we'll try and finalize the groups then.

*stares off into the nether that exists beetween the cells and yells*Hopefully I'm not bumping anyone elses work on the issue. Just trying to do a summary based on the results of the signup sheet and what I've seen in comments and on the spreadsheet.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------Pulled from comments we have some input from Abuto:

1) Direct new people to the signup spreadsheet. (That's the spreadsheet for our new "applicants" where they fill out a form.)

2) I get automatic updates when people add to the signup sheet.

3) I get the email addy's and names of the new people and add them to the [poxic] Google Group and give them access to the coordination spreadsheet. (That's the spreadsheet where we break everyone up into the colored groups.)

4) All new members will get emails that they have been invited to both the Google group and the coordination spreadsheet.

5) At that point, it's up to the new people to act on their membership -- i.e., fill in their time availability, communicate to the group, contact us on Anvilmar to be added to the group, etc.

Saturday, March 8, 2008

Thursday, March 6, 2008

The Green Poxed team "rocked the chasm'bah" last night! Mostly I just took a bunch of photos. My only write up will be that it was awesome to kick arse and take names in RFC without one single wipe. I think we all leveled up from 12 to 14 or 15 on the way through (or turning in quests afterwards). As has been rumored, Abuto did get a blue!

I had fun but I'm still getting the hang of the melee/rogue thing. As rumored, I did pull aggro a few times and felt very bad about it. But I tried to make up for it by grabbing mobs who tried to attack the clothies while Trif was managing the rest. I had completely forgotten about my new Sap ability, and I didn't use stealth at all. I'm not sure we needed it, but I felt foolish for not even letting everyone know. My new sword prevented me from doing backstabs but nicely made up for it with damage.

Trif's an awesome tank and leader. Between him and the healers, it's not surprising we never wiped. When I screwed up a few times (oh, I dunno, 23 times??) and pulled aggro (I really need to get Omen), I just jogged around Trif and he picked it back up easily. He is a god among... bears? Cows? Cowbears?

Raaksi healed so well I hardly saw my health bar waver, even when I pulled aggro like a bad, bad rogue. Having played a shammy most of my WoW life, I always thought my totems were underrated by party members. Now I KNOW it's true because I can very much tell the difference between being a rogue with totems and a rogue without them. All hail totemosity!

Wulfa brought the thunder with bolts, smites and swaying hips. She also kept me healed when Raa was otherwise occupied with those crazy tanks. I only once worried about my health -- and that was my own fault for pulling aggro. Plus, I got to use some bandages for a change!

Team Elips is unbelievable. Not only bringing the humor and the Biznar, but Thwack the Blueberry (can't get his name right) is the most awesome off-tank I've ever been around. I swear he would glom onto one dude while Trif held the others and we could TOTALLY forget Thwack's mob while he kept him busy. Sometimes I'd think we were all done and turn around to see the Blue Guy continuing his evil mesmerizing of the last mob. Sometimes I was just tempted to watch him work.

We posed with the Troll king after Wulfa had her way with Thrall. (I think Vol'jin was more into Abuto.)

Here's a shot of us lowbie 12-13s standing in a pool of 6 dead level 15 elite troggs who ambushed us. Total devastation.

Elips, the Optimistic Dead Guy.

Elips is also a fine upstanding member of the demon Auto Club.

Some very amusing conversation while the killing ensued.

After getting his fill from a bit of corpse eating, Wulfa pouted. I think Elips misunderstood her disappointment.

Another silhouette shot from the same place last time (remember "pensive and cowish"?) but this time, we were a bit less apprehensive.

Wulfa's account is up. Unfortunately I hosed her first really well done account so she had to write another(also well done but with different content).

Last night was really fun. It was crazy how much a difference two levels made. At level 11 we wiped twice and everything was dreadfully dangerious. At level 13 we easily handled 6-8 elites at a time and only once came close to dying when our druid tank couldn't remember how to get back into bear form for the first half of a fight.

I really wish I could write here about what/how Abuto/Wulfa/Elips did. But I honestly only remember that mobs would -justdie-. I was franticly trying to hold agro on 4-5 mobs and stay within range of Raaksi's totems. Party chat flew by and my world was a frenzy of shouting between myself(in the study) and Raaksi(in the living room).

Him:"STOP MOVING""Why can't you stay within range of the totem!?""GET BACK TO THE TOTEM""AGRO!""NOOOO DON"T RUN OFF LIKE THAT"

Me:"Dood I have to get close to the enemy casters!""LOW HPS LOW HPS""WHY CAN"T I GET BACK INTO BEAR FORM""WARNING TAKING MORE DAMAGE NOW""STOP MOVING"

I've always known that tanks were a 'little bit' busy with stuff... but wow... if you get past two mobs all of a sudden you don't even SEE the rest of your party... you are swapping and growling and biting(or whatever my ability is called). My dps did a good job of not grabbing agro. My healers did too usually. Growl has an absurdly short range that I slowly realized(I thought for a long time that it was broken or needing rage or something).

Oh one thing I did notice: Abuto can when she wants to dump a TON of agro causing damage on a mob. They'd spin to hit her... I'd hopefully growl them back... life was great.

I am still learning a ton. Last night I wanted to keep a big sign over my head that said "sorry about that bad pull/growl/agro/add". But bear tank is -wow- fun. And my crew is great.

I don't want to make this the "official" write-up of the night, since it's not nearly as entertaining as some of you guys can do. But, my version is posted here. Also, since I did start a new blog this week, there's a very brief overview of last week as well, so as not to confuse my HUNDREDS of loyal readers.

I'm gettin' to be an old Orc*. My beard's got more gray than a vendor-trash item. So when we headed on our trip to the Ragefire Chasm the other night, there were a few things I forgot to do first. I thought I'd make a list to help me remember.

Unload. My pockets were never full-ta-bursting, but I realized I was runnin' the whole instance with my Strong Fishing Pole in my bag. That's just not what an efficient Orc does. Any unnecessary stuff can go in the bank.

Gear up. With Demotail callin' in sick (maybe that Troll Voodoo's not always good for what ails ya), I was on healing duty that night. I realize that, at level 12, there's not alot of great +int gear, but if I'm in charge of keeping the group alive, I need to be in my best.

Be enchanting. Or enchanted. Whatever. Same thing with the gear, I need to make sure I have the best enchants before I go on another trip like that.

Bring snacks. Trips like this make an Orc hungry. And there's nothing I like better than some Smoked Sagefish, for all my mana buffs. This is something I managed not to forget; I'll try to keep it that way.

Bring drinks. I completely forgot to bring my umpteen stacks of potions with me. Probably would have helped on those times when I went out of mana.

Keep it under wraps. I did bring Bandages, though. Could have spent a little time in upgrading my First Aid skill, for better bandages, but there were times where I was grateful I even had the ones I did.

Moral Support.Deadrabbit had this on lock. Those squirrels ain't edible, but they make up for it in fun.

Anyways, I thought that if I wrote it down, it'd help me to remember for next time.

*Shawn, who plays Fuller, is not old. Unless you're his 6-year-old sister. Then he's "Ooooooold".

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

ORGRIMMAR--Offense carried the Yellow Poxless to a decisive victory against the Ragefire Chasms Tuesday night. The Yellow Poxless started this game with a surprising injury: their star healer, Demotail, was benched for the night. However, Yellow was not daunted but decided to win this one, "for the Tail!" Also exciting was an infusion of young talent: Fuller and Blackmyst were recuited mid-season and were first seen out on the playing field Tuesday.

The line-up: Lazz as main tank, Blackmyst as off-tank/off-healer, Fuller as healer/CC and Rabbit as CC/DPS. The Ragefire Chasms did not take their opponents seriously. They first sent their bench-sitters out against the Yellows: snakes, elementals, troggs. The bench-sitters were soon convinced that they should have sat this game out.

The varsity team initially shook the Yellows. Knocked 'em out. Time-out was called and the coach asked the Yellows if they remembered why they were out there? Did they want to be called Yella or YELLOW!!?? The team came out ready to avenge the wipe and did so with gusto:

The next serious competition for the Yellows was a ringer: some steriod-using monster called the Hungerer. He had a nasty upper cut. Lazz and Blackmyst both took one directly on the chin. But the Hungerer was a one-note, over-muscled wonder. Down he went and the Yellow offense pushed forward:The Ragefire Chasms defense prepared to dig in and stop the momentum of the Yellows. As the two teams faced each other, there was quite a bit of smack talk from the Ragefires. Fuller, the Yellow's Shaman, says "Oh yeah, they called me 'puke green', my girl Rabbit 'a bag of bones' and my two boys, Blackmyst and Lazz ,"a bunch of punk-a$$ teddy bears." We stuffed those words right back down their throats""The final quarter proved that the Ragefires just didn't have the energy or commitment to finish the game. The Yellows steamrolled over the team:The pundits had said that Ballazan would prove troublesome to the Yellows. The Yellows replied with a resounding "Ballazan does our dishes!"Final Score: Yellow Poxless Wins, Ragefire Chasm Cleared

(*the Mechanical Squirrels, the Yellow Poxless cheerleading team, would like to ask that the fans stop objectifying them. "Stop staring at our tails. Yes, we are cute. Yes, we are fuzzy. Now get over it! We are here to cheer, not for you to leer!")

Oh yeah, yeah...we cleared RFC....but check out this purty art shot....Lazz all up in an Orc's junk, the blade at his throat, Blackmyst ripping up the backside....and a bored and disinterested squirrel.

Friday, February 29, 2008

All right, so here's the skinny on last night: we gathered in Orgrimmar at 6:30. And TJ was not only ready to go, she was RARING to go.

"Okay, let's move people...go, go, go!!!"

Needless to say, there was no lallygagging. Sergeant TJ had roused the troops and she wanted us battle-ready and pronto. Yes, ma'am!! While I was gathering a quest that TJ and Lazz already had, Lazz was downloading Skype and TJ was tapping her foot impatiently at the front of Org.

Honestly things moved so quickly, I'm not exactly sure what the names of the quests we did were. However, there's a bunch of harpies who were a little sloppy in their housekeeping. We took their bags and decimated them. That'll teach them to leave their valley messy. I have to admit: the *poof* of feathers when a harpy went down was pretty damn funny.

Speaking of housekeeping, I had just bought a new staff on the AH. It was about 15s but little did I know that I was buying a literal broom. I looked like the "surly charwoman come to clean up the Barrens"...."what is that? A smudge on that rock???? grumble....messy whippersnappers." Not quite the imposing figure I wanted to cut. Oh well.

After that, we cut over to the Barrens. Where'd we go? People, I have no clue. Sergeant TJ kept us at a brisk march and the scenery was whipping by. However, we did get to hear a preview of the story hinted at here. Yup, Lazz and I know the story and you don't. Don't even try to pry it out of us: we are yellow!!

At some point, we were surrounded by quillboars. Actually that's not quite fair: we weren't actually "surrounded." We ran into their village and then decided to mess the place up. Kinda rude of us. And really, were they quillboars? I can't even say for sure...it was a bunch of bodies flying up in the air, dust, noise. Who knows? At some point in this stew, TJ was complained that we were too good (oh yes.../preen) and that she was just standing around. So Lazz gathered about 5 quillboars and a couple associated hunter's pets around him to stretch TJ's healing skillz. No worries folks: Lazz the aggro holding bear did not die.

What else? Lazz was praised for his vocabulary skills even though he had a penis. I was mocked for being 41 (I would have shown those two young'uns the backside of my hand...but my hip was acting up and my walker got stuck in a rock and I just couldn't catch 'em.....grumble....insolent kids!)

We went to turn in a quest at the Crossroads but the Alliance had killed the NPC. What to do? Dance, of course. Turned out to be a proper "rain dance" because up pops our NPC. Maybe he just wanted us to "please for the love of god, stop that horrible dancing!!!" /Shrug...He obviously didn't know good moves when he saw them.

Okay true confessions: at one point at the Crossroads, I was following the wrong Tauran around. I mean...come on...one cow looks like another, right? /doh....but then I realized that the Tauran I was following had a very large turtle and Lazz is not a hunter. Oh noes. I apologized to Lazz but I don't think he's quite forgiven me. In fact, at one point, I was mining and he and TJ took off without me. I mean I've *apologized.* It was a mistake....no need to leave me stranded in the desert. This is fair warning: do not diss the Lazz. He's suspiciously quiet about the whole matter in his post but I ain't buying that nonchalance. /grin

What else? oh, we killed a level 18 raptor no mess, no fuss.

EDIT: Silly Wabbit...a "z" is not an "x"....no wonder Lazz was ditching me...I was calling him Laxx /slap forehead a couple times

I posted my version of the night's events over on my blog. I also have screenshots of us all dancing when Ess got her bear form (happy bear!) and the infamous Thunderhead corpse. (Sorry you're not all in the picture, I cut out all the UI stuff aside from the icon showing he was a level 20.)

Last night, after chomping through several bits, bridles, and small children, the Purple Poxers finally got together to start the Grand Experiment.

We gathered around the entrance to the Orgrimmar bank and were so excited.....we stood there.

........"Whadda wanna do?""IDK, whadda u wanna do?""IDK"........

Well, Daxe, who has a hard time sitting still when she's dead, finally took control of the group and started barking out orders.

"Wara, share those quests!""Anyone else have quests to share for RFC?""Harisan, those ca pries look fabulous!"

After a slue of quest sharing, we headed out to take care of some misguided sailors and marines just south of Razor Hill. These poor Alliance lackeys must have done something very bad to get this post, but we couldn't be bothered with such empathies...we had a job to do. Short story: We're all level 10. They're levels 6-7. This is soloable. We had 5 people. Pwnage to the ninth degree.

Uh, ok, finished quests and moved on to Quillboars. Second verse, same as the first. Only the levels were one higher...LAUGH OUT LOUD.

Turned in quests and headed to Crossroads. Ah, Barrens chat...how do I miss thee.[1. General] [Chuck Norris]: How about a roundhouse kick to the head!!

On the way, we saw a pretty Zhevra that was level 12. Ooooo, let's kill it, was MY first reaction. So, Harisan tanked, and we spanked! Pwnage again.

Got the flight point at the Crossroads and headed down to Camp T and beyond for Madja's class quest. On the way, we saw a fierce Raptor. Level 14, this one was (red to a lvl 10).

"Hey, let's kill it!", giggled the priest. And, dutifully, Harisan made her way over to the skull I marked. This fight was a little more difficult in that I had to throw out one Lesser Heal in addition to keeping a Renew on her. Pwnage in their general direction!

Level 15 Hyena? Sure, let's eat it! It was during this fight that a very sad thing happened....I died. The fashion world was rocked to the core and held it's breath until I rezzed. And then breathed a collective sigh of relief at my choice to continue to provide high quality tailoring and accessorizing items to the world.

The hyena wasn't the problem, the centaur and two puppies that added were fatal to me. Thankfully, the group was able to dispatch the smelly things with me marking while dead. So, mostly Pwnage, with a side dish of peas (canned ones!).

After rebuffs, we continued on our merry way to Camp T, when the plucky priest espied a level 18 raptor. It took little convincing to get Harisan to take on this meanie. This fight was more difficult than the previous fights and different people drew aggro off her, but...we did it! Pwnage to the 25.6th degree.

And off to Org, run around, go into RFC just for a couple of pulls. pant, pant, pant. RFC, a mix of lvl 11's and 12's. Sounds like a wipefest. But after the first pull (lvl 13 elite) we knew we could totally do this! We proceeded to clear through the first large area with multiple mob pulls before I had to get to bed. We were downing lvl 15 elites and taking on three pulls of elites ranging from 13-15. I do believe next time we play, we'll be taking on the instance in its entirety.

So I was very impressed with Thog-something-or-other and Biznar last night. They really rocked our world. Biznar was a mad dps machine with a healthy dose of pull-mobs-safely. He did this amazing solo pull where the skull was surrounded by 8 other highly agro mobs. Too bad he had to leave early after one particularly bad wipe. So Thogkldjflsk shows up to replace him... and yeah best OT I've ever had. He'd lock down his mob and keep him locked down until we had all the other elites burned down. We had him maintank the occasional level 16's while Raamah helped us speed burn down the level 13-14 ones. He(Thogwersedsds) was great. His friend Elips though needed to learn to pay more attention... all he did was dps and tell Thog what to do. Thog was doing fine without him thank you very much. But to avoid drama* I whispered Thog and told him that any time he wants to join Green Poxed he's in... we'll just boot Elips and be happy.

As for Abuto? I never saw her until Biznar left....then she shows up and starts pulling things. Granted she made a great puller and did a good job of not pulling more than we wanted but every fight she would dissapear and go stealth into the corner. Bad troll woman.

On a completely unrelated note every fight an odd debuff thing happened. As soon as Raamah had agro a flurry of blades and death ... would suddenly appear behind the mob. This was really helpful and I'm glad Blizz added this to make the instance go smoother.

Raamah did pretty good for a new tank. He held agro and kept me(the healer) safe. Too bad he needs to learn to stop dying. Seriously. The guy dies all the time. I was getting hurt a little and he ran up and pulled the mob off of me and while I'm sitting there deciding whether to use the healthstone or the mana potion first... he dies. He has so much to learn. Fortunately I decided to use the healthstone first as I still had about 60% mana and only had about 55% health at that point.

Oh and Wulfa? I'm the healer not you.. so stop healing the off tank..and the rogue...and the warlock. You are a shadow priest.. not a main priest(that would be me!)... use your wand or something... dps don't heal things!

I saved these things for the blog because I didn't want to tell them to their face how bad they were. I mean seriously ... we had to stop and regen after every other group of 3 level 15 elites. We were level 11 for goodness sake. Purple pox kills level 20's all the time at that level. /sigh Amatures.

If it wasn't for my awesomeness I don't know how I would survive.

Your welcome for the chance to listen to me, Sumyerki the humble.

*Drama comes when you talk directly to the person causing the problem. The best way is to keep it to whispers behind their back and just 'hint' until they go away ;P

Now that he's done... I'd like to say that I had a TON of fun last night. We were able to work out the kinks and learn to work with little CC and lots of squishy. Wulfa has a cold and may not be posting for a bit but she told me she had a ton of fun as well. I wish I had a more specifics but last night the group rocked even with my mistakes on healing(Raa died 3 times... 2 times to GROSS healer neglect).

After the party ended I realized that I'm not using any of my normal buttons because I have DPS spells there... I will be dramaticly restructering what spells are on my bar. This should make healing more... instinctual.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

I thought it would be cool for readers to know how our guild breaks down ethnically and whatnot, so here's an image of our statistics. Looks like being a troll and being a rogue makes me a lonely soul, race and classwise. But every other -wise, I'm certainly not lacking for friends and homies!

The Yellow Poxers all arrived at Org 'bout six o' clock. Daxe, champion of the fashion challenged, rushed in to help Demotail. He said, and I quote, "oh good lord, you bought your clothes at WALMART." You could hear the horror in his voice. He had to be comforted. But he put Demo on a stool, took some measurements and had her looking flash in no time.

Laxx had gathered a piddling amount of quests to share. I kid. The boy had about twenty quests saved up. He was like a quest vending machine. Took about 5 minutes just to share them all. And more kudos for Laxx, the aggro-holding bear. I had never used the internal voice thing-a-ma-bob (that is the technical term for it, btw). But he kindly walked me though the process. Demo could tell that Laxx had a Canadian accent. I heard "bzzzzz.....Okay, let's...bzzzzz....go" (I didn't know that dialect of Canadian /shrug).

Before questing, Demo needed to "put a pill in a cat." I'm not sure if that is slang for something or some sort of arcane "tax season" phrase. But the pill was shoved in the kitty and we were good to go. EDIT: It just occured to me: Was BRK the cat in question? Oh noes, I hope he took that pill without directing "massive quantities of sustained, ranged DPS" at TJ. Demotail, here's a helpful video for next time.

Our first quest was right outside Orgrimmar: Hidden Enemies. This involved going into a cave and killing a bunch of orcs. So we wuz ready. Primed. We stepped in. We killed our first orc warlock. I tried to sheep the minion. Denied! Next orc warlock, I sheeped the warlock. Laxx clawed the purple petunia to shreds. Demo was a tall drink of healing priestly awesomness (um 100% awesomeness I've been told to relay). And then it happened. I tripped. My arms and legs went flailing. I fell backwards into a small pool. Yup. And then to add insult to injury, trying to jump back up to the ledge, I pulled some major aggro and wiped our group. First wipe, woot!

But I'm going to stand tall: there is now a signature move in the Yellow Poxers. When Laxx and Demo nearly fell off a ledge later on, they called it "pulling a Rabbit." I'm so *proud*!! (I will say in my defense, that as an undead, the joints are not connected real well...there's some rotting of ligaments...just saying, makes for some shaky footing).

Post-tripping and wiping, I had a kitchen sink pipe spring a leak. Here's how you know that you might be a wow addict. I actually considered letting the kitchen flood and keep on playing. I gave into reason though (which I might need to clarify: I logged off and fixed the leak. I promise: that was the reasonable thing to do).

Laxx and Demo two-manned the cave with style. When I came back from my plumbing emergency, it took awhile for all three of us to get the Lieutenant's Insignia. By that point though we had a system and were cutting through mobs like a hot knife through butter. Sheep the warlock, kill the minion, healz....rinse and repeat. When everyone had an insignia, we called it a night.

Good Night Org....sleep better knowing that the Yellow Poxers were keeping the beasties at bay.Edit: Laxx has a re-cap. Cool, let's see if our stories match up :-)

So it's still early in the morning, I'm very groggy having spent part of the night dreaming about zombies and how they had started to take over the world, and I'm sooo excited to be playing tonight. RFC here we come! And somebody from the yellow team needs to document their experiences from last night .....

Update on my AH flipping: score! My greater magic essence sold for 7 gold (I bought it for a paltry sum of silver). Speaking of which we have two stacks of that in the guild bank .... Daxe you didn't make me rich, did you? 'Cause that's not the same, somehow .....

I also was wondering if we wanted to take some of the items in the bank tab and put them on the AH and deposit the money back into the guild .... we only have a few slots left. And I was thinking we should put one person in charge of that (if it was decided that it was a good idea) so we wouldn't get confused and pull out all of our resources ..... I nominate Daxe or Fuller, champion AH flippers!

So anyway, see ya'll tonight! (I steadfastly REFUSED to say ya'll when I was still in TX-I was a Virginian, dangnabbit! and we don't say that word-but now that I'm far away it's begun to creep into my vernacular ....)

I would like to thank the Orgrimmar Retailing Commission (ORC) for awarding me this year's Community Retailer/Advertiser Prize, and thank you for recognizing my premier place in the fashion world.

The addition of this CRAPPY to my many other awards, acknowledgments, prizes, first place ribbons, certificates, patents, and other trophies is truly an honor for you. Your good taste and standing has been noticed among the ultra elite tier of the fashion industry, and I, for one, am more than indifferent for you.

For several days now, Daxe Fifth Ave has striven to not only show Anvilmar that superior quality and affordability can go hand in hand, but also that Daxe, is without question, a force to be reckoned with in the fashion world. Oh, yes, the reckoning IS at hand.

I want to take this opportunity to announce the launch of the NEXT BIG THING. Once again, we will blaze the trail and set the tone for the upcoming Wednesday season with a brand new Signature handbag: The Red Woolen Bag.

Our production of these bags is in full swing, and we've allow some of our special clients access to them. Already I've received reports of widespread envy among the Horde commoners and some riots in Razor Hill due to the delayed release date. I want to assure both the Horde rabble as well as my premier clients that I will only be making these bags available to members of the elite Pox Arcanum so as to guarantee their exclusivity.

As with all better known and loved products, my handbag design will be copied and manufactured. While I cannot blame the lesser designers for failing to be original and for wanting to imitate the pinnacle of the fashion industry, I will just address this issue by reminding people to look for the "Made by Daxe" label. With that label, you get my personal guarantee of a quality handbag that can withstand the punishing storage demands of our select clientele, be it a stack of linen cloth or some malcontent's head.

In conclusion, this award validates the ORC! Your good fashion sense and recognition of superior quality have caused this Blood Elf to move slightly from my indifferent attitude to one of amusement. Bravo!

Monday, February 25, 2008

Posted this on my site and then remembered I should have posted it here. So here you go:

Poxic Bank tab is purchased but Wulfa reports that there are some authority issues and not everyone is able to access the tab. Not even to deposit. I plan to log on tonight and fix this as soon as possible.

62,40 - along the coast south of RatchettThe Barrens, Kalmidor, Azeroth

Ambiance: If you like brown, you will love the Barrens. The Southsea priates have chosen a more decorous location than say, some of the raptors or other indigenous livestock, having a nicie view of the ocean.

The decor is open, very spacious, and includes scenes involving pirate ships, pirate treasure chests, and some rather kitsch pup tents. I enjoyed the "scattered" look of the place very much, and I felt that the style really set off the area's cuisine. The Southsea area emphasis a wide variety of races, and if you don't want to be tied down to ONLY human or orcs, for example, you will find they have everything up to and including gnolls (a rare treat in Kalimdor)! The pirates wear fairly loose fitting clothing, so you don't have to deal with any extra utensils or tools for 'shelling' your meal.

The pirates themselves are nicely grouped, and do not require a lot of seeking on the diner's part. However, this reviewer did find himself having to chase down and de-leg several of the appetizers, as they do panic and run.

I recommend the following: Southsea Cutthroat and Brigand as starters - lightly crisped with an Immolation and possibly with a side of marinated Polly (cracker optional). For a main course, the Baron Longshore soaked in Corruption is a hearty meal and you may find yourself asking for a doggy bag toward the end of the repast. The Refreshing Spring Water goes well with the Baron, but I chose the Milk and was not disappointed in how it complimented the dish. If you can manage it, and it is in season, I highly recommend saving room for desert, and having Tazan with cheese.

Happy Hour Daily: 3pm-6pm and 9pm-close

Overall I would recommend the area for your dining pleasure, but recommend you bring the appropriate crew for slaying runners unless you are in the mood to chase.

Well, I'd been purposefully hovering around two bars till ten for the past week, as I ran around Eversong Woods looking for copper to level up mining and Jewelcrafting, and make lots of stuff for my Poxic guildies. Today, though, Wulfa recommended selling those Small Eggs on the AH (since I am MAJORLY poor!), so I killed a bunch of Dragonhawks and finally dinged 10.

I'm kind of worried now about getting accidental XP while doing other things. I was avoiding fights while mining before, but if I had to kill something it wasn't a huge deal. Now, especially with rested bonus, even one kill feels like too much. Harisan is currently sitting OUTSIDE Orgrimmar, to avoid getting any more rested bonus in case I get too far ahead by accident.

Next thing on the agenda is doing all the grey-level quests in Durotar so I can get my rep up and not have to pay full price in this part of the world. Stupid Horde... why can't you all get along like the Alliance? They start out Friendly with everyone.

(Sits and anticipates the /gkick coming for blasphemizing against the Horde...)

Thursday, February 21, 2008

...and apparently also The Slow, since I was the last Green Poxer to show up last night, being on the Left Coast and whatnot. Most everyone had scattered from Orgrimmar by the time I arrived.

I got a guild invitation almost instantaneously! (So good to feel wanted!) Then I needed a tabard! Fortunately, some of my auction items sold well so I scooted right over to buy one. (Okay, so I didn't exactly "scoot." I had to follow Elips and Fuller to find the shop.) Ooooo... the tabard is bee-yoo-tee-ful! It definitely accentuates my Trolly curves. Oompa! Here you can see for yourself.

You can thank Photoshop for the keen "stealth" picture on the right. Heh.

Laying Waste

Oh what can I say! We were killing machines all over Durotar and The Barrens. Mobs I wouldn't have considered trying for another 5 levels went down with ease in the wake of our massive output. We seemed to have no fear! It was so fun; I felt almost invincible. Again, I must give kudos to the two priests who had my back. I'm so used to being the healer and worrying about everyone else that it was refreshing to go commando and have confidence that my buddies would keep me alive.

I loved the Green group dynamics. It seems like Dammy's a natural leader. He was already using raid markers like skulls and diamonds! Raamah is my Tauren crush -- the strong, silent tank. (I'm a sucker for Tauren males, go figure.) Elips cracks me up and his minions make for a very nice additional tank or DPS party member. Wulfa is my fellow chica in a group of Horde studliness. First, I gotta say, Dax, you've definitely got competition in the HAWT department with Wulfa's BE. Whoo boy! And what she does with a smite will bring all the boys to the yard, as the Belfs like to say.

Anyway, the point is that so far, I love my teammates and my guildies! I hope they're patient as I learn this new melee, stealthy role.

Caster vs. Melee

I must say that all my other alts are casters of some sort, so it's taking me a while to realize that my job as a rogue is to just run the heck in there and start with the "stabby stabby," as Dax puts it. My brain keeps thinking of how to "pull" the bad-guys, and then while I'm watching our tank, Raamah, rush in and whack things, I realize, "GOSH! I'd better get in there and start slicing!"

It's taking some getting used to, also, to running around the back of the tank's target to get some nice juicy Backstabs in. Heh. I guess just like the Blood Elf is getting to Dax, and the Warlock is affecting Elips, my little roguish evilness is also starting to shine through.

I think I'm going to spec Subtlety since we are always going to function as a group. If I were leveling alone, I think I'd go for Combat, but the Subtlety tree looks like a LOT of fun and it will definitely make for a unique addition to the team.

Winding Up The Evening

The little orclette (is she an Elflette on Anvilmar?) aggro'd late in the night, poor doodle. I loved when Dammy said that Wulfa had to "tank" the orclette. Too cute. We all took this as a sign from Elune that we should call it a night. Way fun!!!

Crafting Reminder

Fellow guildies, please remember I'm a blacksmith. I know most of you cannot wear mail, but I also make daggers, maces, axes, and things to sharpen pointy weapons or ensmacken blunt weapons. Please feel free to hit me up for something -- don't even have to need, just want!